Process for the production of zinc.



11% 11 mm swamp o'rro BALTIN, or LIPINE, GERMANY.

' PROCESS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF .ZINC.

No Drawing.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, OTTO BALTIN, a citi- Zen of the German Empire, andresident of Lipine, Upper Silesia, Germany, have invented certain newand useful Improvements in Processes for the Production of Zinc, ofwhich the following is a specification such as will enable othersskilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

It is known to make briquets which are so large that they fill theentire mufiie. It is known also to produce somewhat smaller briquets ofwhich perhaps two or three fit in one muffle. Such briquets however, are

almost all prismatic or pillar shaped and,

as a consequence thereof their lateral surfaces lie thus against or overeach other that together they form a large block of the same crosssection as that of the muflie. Those surfaces of the briquets which lieagainst each other are not exposed to the immediate action of the heat.Hence only those surfaces of the two or three superposed briquets areexposed to the direct action of the heat which form as it were the outersurfaces of the block formed by the two or three briquets. These outersurfaces together, however, are not larger in area than the surface ofthe muffle, on the contrary, they are even smaller.

Therefore the object of the invention is to produce briquets which arevery small and of such shape that when lying superposed in the mufflethey come in contact if possible only at one point while all the otherparts of their surface do not touch at all, so that all these partswhich do not come in contact with others form together a surface that isdirectly exposed to the action of the heat and which is much larger thanthe inner surface of the muffle. ,The most suitable shape for thepurpose of the invention is the egg shape. They may also be spherical orshaped as an oval cake of soap. The egg shape however is the preferredshape because when the muflie is charged the briquets will not heap upin a regular man- 1 ner but rather irregularly on account of theegg-shape itself. This will make that at some places there will be alarger inter mediate free space exposed to the action of the hot gasesand for the flowing off of Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 2%, 1915.

Application filed January 3, 1914: Serial No. 810,166.

the zinc vapors than would be the case if the briquets were spherical orround where the spaces between them is the same throughout the muffle.Hence it is not only the small size of the briquets that is importantand forms a characteristic feature of the invention, but it isespeciallythe shape given to those small sized briquets whereby it is madepossible that when lying in the muffle the contact between them will beformed only at one point so that almost the entire surface thereof willbe exposed to the direct action of the heat, and that there will beample space between them for the zinc vapors to escape easily andfreely.

According to the present invention, the penetration of the heat to theinterior, and consequently the reduction of the oxid, and the passingover of the vaporized zinc is facilitated so that the process may beconducted at lower temperatures.

The process may be described as follows: The ore and the reducing agentare formed into. ball-shaped rounded, oval or egg-shaped briquets whichare so small that the sum of their exposed surfaces is many times thatof the receptacle used in distillation. These briquets when piled oneach other in the muflie provide sufficient space between the briquetsfor the zinc vapor to leave the distilling chamber easily and to passinto the receiver. This constitutes a very important step forward inZinc smelting, since, as is well known, that with ordinary brick thepercentage of zinc in the residue is large and the yield poor., \Vithbricks of the new form, however, a practically complete reduction of theoxid is obtained. With the new method herein described, the unobstructedescape of the zinc vapors is made possible without any special form ofapparatus.

I claim as my invention:

1. A method of extracting zinc from ores, said method consisting ininclosing in a space rounded briquets formed of ore and a reducingagent, having adjacent briquets touching each other only at a singlepart; the combined exposed area of the briquets being a large multipleof the limiting area of said space; and exposing said briquets to directaction of heat.

2. A method of extracting zinc from ores,

said method consisting in inclosing in a In witness whereof I havehereunto set space rounded briquets formed of ore and a my hand inpresence of two Witnesses.

reducing agent, having adjacent briquets OTTO BALTIN. touching eachother only at a Single part; Witnesses:

5 alfld exposing said briquets to direct action ERNST KATZ,

0 heat.

ERNST BLIRMS.

